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Tuesday, 26 February 2013

Community cops, or cartel takeover? Michoacán town gets some “protection”

There's not much around Tepalcatepec

On Monday, February 25, about 500 masked men bearing AK-47s
and travelling in luxury SUVs showed up in Tepalcatepec,
Michoacán.

Claiming to be part of a new self-defence group, they took
up positions at the entrances to the city. The hooded men were wearing white
T-shirts with “For a free Tepalcatepec" (“Por un Tepalcatepec libre”)
written in black letters.

Such groups have formed in Michoacán before, but this new
development seems better organized and on a larger scale, such as has been seen
in the mountains of coastal Guerrero.

Members of the newly minted “community police” said that
they were being financially supported by local businesses, and that they were
officially formed on Sunday, February 24.

But there is an unsettling wrinkle to this story. Nowhere in Mexico do community police have
access to AK-47s and luxury SUVs. Nor do they have 500 people. Nor do they
bother to get T-shirts made.

In fact, Mexican press
reports state that The Knights Templar (Los Caballeros Templarios) Cartel,
speaking from its stronghold in nearby Apatzingán, has accused this group of
belonging to the Cártel de Jalisco Nueva
Generación (Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG).

If true, then we have a remarkable development: a community
where the local caciquesopenly side with
one cartel over another, clearly stating by their actions that the government
has no practical mandate or power in the area.

Perhaps CJNG took its cue from conciliatory language emanating
from Mexico’s new government:

If you want to see what it looks like when the cartel rolls
through town, see the video below of The Knights Templar driving through Apatzingán, Michoacán, in 2011.
The convoy begins with a police escort, and then travels for almost three
minutes, with many trucks having armed men openly displayed.

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